Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan - Evertype

Afghan Transitional Islamic Administration
Ministry of Communications
United Nations Development Programme
Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Background. In December 2002 the United Nations Development Programme Country
Office for Afghanistan commissioned a report on the language support required for Pashto
and Dari, Afghanistan’s official languages. In addition, the Project Team (Michael Everson of
Everson Typography, Dublin, and Roozbeh Pournader of the FarsiWeb Project, Tehran) was
successful in collecting similar information for a number of other languages of Afghanistan,
namely, Southern Uzbek and Brahui. (The survey sought information on other languages,
such as Hazaragi, Aimaq, Southwest Pashai, Western Balochi, and Turkmen, but conclusive
responses were not available.)
Need for support. The reason this report has been commissioned is that none of the major
computer software providers currently supports any of these languages – adequately or at all
– and this causes serious constraints and problems for all aspects of information technology
for the entire country. Language support involves inputting, display and printing,
processing, and provision of a user’s locale format information.
Fonts: alphabets and glyph shapes. This document presents information on the letters
required to support the languages of Afghanistan, and the minimum shaping behaviour
required for correct rendering. We urge software manufacturers in the strongest possible
terms to update their Arabic and Persian fonts to include the letters and combinations
which are missing. A summary of these forms is found at the end of the document.
Input: keyboard layouts. This document also proposes keyboard layouts suitable for
inputting the languages of Afghanistan. Responses to our questionnaire did not address
keyboard layout issues; however, we did receive word-of-mouth comments during the
interviews we held at the University of Kabul, the Afghanistan Academy of Sciences, and the
Afghanistan Assistence Coordination Authority. Most people were using old Iranian-made
mechanical typewriters based on the Iranian standard ISIRI 820:1973 (Character
arrangement on keyboards of Persian typewriters), and because they were used to them, they
said that they preferred these to anything else. Because, however, that layout is glyph-based
and makes use of two to four keys to form each letter, it does not suit modern computerbased
entry mechanisms which use one key per letter. Accordingly, we determined that it
was necessary to develop practical keyboard layouts for Afghanistan. The ISIRI 2901:1994
(Keyboard layout for Farsi: Characters in Computer) layout, which we used in the Farsi
sample in the questionnaires, resembles the general layout of ISIRI 820 quite closely, and is
modernized for current usage. Therefore, we used the general layout of ISIRI 2901 to develop
the Dari layout, and then modified that to derive the Pashto and Uzbek layouts to minimize
the learning curve for users as much as possible. Each of the keyboard layouts enables the
user to input characters used in each of the languages supported by this report. The basic
letters of the language for which the keyboard layout is designed are always on the plain and
shifted keys. In some software environments the AltGr keys may not be supported.
Shah Mahmood Ghazi Watt, Kabul, Afghanistan • Tel: +93 210 1680 • E-mail: registry.af@undp.org • ©2003 UNDP

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
Locales: ICU data. Additional data we collected has been formatted in locale specifications
via the ICU (International Components for Unicode) website hosted at
“http://oss.software.ibm.com/icu/”. In this way, the Afghan preferred formats for language,
date format (including month and day names and calendar), time format, number format,
and currency format will be available to vendors who can provide software which will be of
use to the people of Afghanistan, at governmental, business, academic, and local level.
Whenever ICU locale data format is adequate for describing a part of the locale information,
the data in the ICU registry should be consulted for normative and accurate data. The
specifications shown in this report are only informative examples in comparison with the
ICU data files we have provided. However, in areas such as the Afghan calendar, which ICU
locales cannot specify, the text in this report should be considered normative. (Note that the
ICU files we have prepared are not standalone. They must be used in combination with
other locale data, most importantly the “fa.txt” and “root.txt” files from ICU itself.)
Ordering. Sorting order specification is also provided with the ICU locales. This deserves
some additional discussion here. In our analysis of the Pashto, Dari, and Uzbek alphabets
provided to us, together with our analysis of authoritative Pashto-English and Pashto-Pashto
dictionaries, as well as comparison of a Dari-English dictionary with a number of bilingual
and monolingual Persian dictionaries, we discovered that, with the exception of the
treatment of hamza, the alphabets were all mutually compatible with respect to ordering.
Because the ordering of “singular” hamza ( ) is of little consequence – it is rare and typically
comes toward the end of a word – we determined that placing it between alef and beh would
have two advantages: first, it would allow all of the languages of Afghanistan to avail of a
single unified sort order, and second, it would enable the closely-related Persian languages,
Dari and Farsi, to be sorted in the same way. It should be mentioned, however, that the
order shown in this report is only the general ordering for letters, and does not show the
ordering of less significant elements like the ordering of vowel marks or the handling of
punctuation or Unicode control characters. The complete and exact ordering is the one
specified in the ICU locale data files.
We commend this report to the software vendors of the world, and trust that its
specifications will be implemented as a matter of urgency, so that the people Afghanistan
can avail of the essential tools which many of us take for granted.
˛ ¸
Michael Everson Roozbeh Pournader
Everson Typography, Dublin FarsiWeb Project, Tehran
www.evertype.com www.farsiweb.info
The latest version of this report, updates, and other resources (such as keyboard layout
specifications in data files conformant to ISO/IEC 9995, Information Technology – Keyboard
layouts for text and office systems, and ICU data files based on this report) are available at
“http://www.evertype.com/standards/af/”.
© Copyright 2003 United Nations Development Programme, Michael Everson, and Roozbeh Pournader.
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not
allowed. The authors welcome feedback from people who download and use the report and data files.
Latest update: 2003-07-29
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 2

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
The Pashto Alphabet
The table below lists the letters used to write Pashto, including loanwords from Arabic.
Our survey indicated a number of different sorting orders for Pashto. All respondants
said that the alphabetic order was (reading from left to right) > > > > > .
This is the order agreed on at a 1991 meeting of Pashto experts in Peshawar. It should be
noted that the most authoritative dictionary, the Pas. tó-Pas. tó Descriptive Dictionary, 4
volumes (Department of Linguistics, Institute of Languages and Literature, Academy of
Sciences of Afghanistan, 1979–1987) uses the order > > > > > , as does
Rahimi and Rohi’s Pashto-English Dictionary (1979). Materials for schoolchildren
collected in Kabul, on the other hand, gave this same sequence as > > > > >
. Nevertheless, we suggest that the order agreed at the 1991 Peshawar meeting is the
best to follow.
In the list below, the Unicode letters which sort as separate letters at the first level are
given flush to the left margin, and letters which sort at the second level are indented. We
have also given the Urdu letters which are used in older Pashto orthographies to show
how Pashto data in that orthography will sort.
Unicode Name isolated final medial initial Arabic Dari Pashto Uzbek Brahui
0622 ā ] — — • • • •
0627 alif ] — — • • • • •
0623 alif-hamza ] — — • • • • •
0671 alif-wasla ] — — •
0625 al.-h.-below ] — — •
0621 hamza — — — • • • • •
0628 be ] ]] ] • • • • •
067E pe ] ]] ] • • • •
062A te ] ]] ] • • • • •
067C e ] ]] ] •
0679 Urdu e ] ]] ] •
062B se ] ]] ] • • • • •
062C jim ] ]] ] • • • • •
0681 ǰe ] ]] ] •
0686 če ] ]] ] • • • •
0685 ce ] ]] ] •
062D he ] ]] ] • • • • •
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 3

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
Unicode Name isolated final medial initial Arabic Dari Pashto Uzbek Brahui
062E xe ] ]] ] • • • • •
062F dāl ] — — • • • • •
0689 āl ] — — •
0688 Urdu āl ] — — •
0630 zāl ] — — • • • • •
0631 re ] — — • • • • •
0693 e ] — — •
0691 Urdu e ] — — •
0632 ze ] — — • • • • •
0698 že ] — — • • • •
0696 e ] — — •
0633 sin ] ]] ] • • • • •
0634 šin ] ]] ] • • • • •
069A in ] ]] ] •
0635 swāt ] ]] ] • • • • •
0636 zād ] ]] ] • • • • •
0637 twe ] ]] ] • • • • •
0638 zwe ] ]] ] • • • • •
0639 ˁayn ] ]] ] • • • • •
063A ǧayn ] ]] ] • • • • •
0641 fe ] ]] ] • • • • •
0642 qāf ] ]] ] • • • • •
06A9 kāf ] ]] ] • • • •
0643 Arabic kāf ] ]] ] •
06AB gāf ] ]] ] •
06AF Persian gāf ] ]] ] • • •
0644 lām ] ]] ] • • • • •
06B7 Brahui lhām ] ]] ] •
0645 mim ] ]] ] • • • • •
0646 nun ] ]] ] • • • • •
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 4

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
Unicode Name isolated final medial initial Arabic Dari Pashto Uzbek Brahui
06BA nun ghunna ] — — •
06BC un ] ]] ] •
0648 wāw ] — — • • • • •
0624 wāw hamza ] — — • • • • •
06C7 Uzbek u ] — — •
06C9 Uzbek o ] — — •
0647 he ] ]] ] • • • • •
0629 gǝda te ] — — • • • • •
06CC ye ] ]] ] • • • •
0649 alef maksura — — ]] ] •
06D2 Urdu ye ] — — •
064A saxta ye ] — — • • •
06D0 pasta ye ] ] ] • •
06CD ǝǰina ye ] — — •
0626 feˁli ye ] ] ] • • • •
Note. Since the shapes of the ] initial and ]] medial forms of the Pashto letters ye
(U+06CC) and saxta ye (U+064A) are exactly the same, to avoid encoding ambiguities
in Pashto data – and its known implications in security-related issues including possible
Pashto domain names – we recommend that the Unicode character for saxta ye, namely
U+064A, never be used in initial and medial forms in Pashto data. Where input data is
explicitly known to be in Pashto, applications should automatically replace such usage
in the input data (for example, in keyboard input) with the normal ye character, namely
U+06CC. Applications may not automatically change U+064A to U+06CC in Pashto
input if it is used in final or isolated forms.
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 5

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
The Dari Alphabet
The table below lists the letters used to write Dari, including loanwords from Arabic. In
the list below, the Unicode letters which sort as separate letters at the first level are given
flush to the left margin, and letters which sort at the second level are indented. We have
also given the Urdu letters which are used in older Pashto orthographies to show how
Pashto data in that orthography will sort.
Unicode Name isolated final medial initial Arabic Dari Pashto Uzbek Brahui
0622 ā ] — — • • • •
0627 alef ] — — • • • • •
0623 alef-hamza ] — — • • • • •
0671 alif-wasla ] — — •
0625 al.-h.-below ] — — •
0621 hamza — — — • • • • •
0628 be ] ]] ] • • • • •
067E pe ] ]] ] • • • •
062A te ] ]] ] • • • • •
067C Pashto e ] ]] ] •
0679 Urdu e ] ]] ] •
062B se ] ]] ] • • • • •
062C jim ] ]] ] • • • • •
0681 Pashto ǰe ] ]] ] •
0686 če ] ]] ] • • • •
0685 Pashto ce ] ]] ] •
062D he ] ]] ] • • • • •
062E xe ] ]] ] • • • • •
062F dāl ] — — • • • • •
0689 Pashto āl ] — — •
0688 Urdu āl ] — — •
0630 zāl ] — — • • • • •
0631 re ] — — • • • • •
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 6

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
Unicode Name isolated final medial initial Arabic Dari Pashto Uzbek Brahui
0693 Pashto e ] — — •
0691 Urdu e ] — — •
0632 ze ] — — • • • • •
0698 že ] — — • • • •
0696 Pashto e ] — — •
0633 sin ] ]] ] • • • • •
0634 šin ] ]] ] • • • • •
069A Pashto in ] ]] ] •
0635 sād ] ]] ] • • • • •
0636 zād ] ]] ] • • • • •
0637 tā ] ]] ] • • • • •
0638 zā ] ]] ] • • • • •
0639 ayn ] ]] ] • • • • •
063A qayn ] ]] ] • • • • •
0641 fe ] ]] ] • • • • •
0642 qāf ] ]] ] • • • • •
06A9 kāf ] ]] ] • • • •
0643 Arabic kāf ] ]] ] •
06AB Pashto gāf ] ]] ] •
06AF gāf ] ]] ] • • •
0644 lām ] ]] ] • • • • •
06B7 Brahui lhām ] ]] ] •
0645 mīm ] ]] ] • • • • •
0646 nūn ] ]] ] • • • • •
06BA nūn ghunna ] — — •
06BC Pashto ūn ] ]] ] •
0648 vāv ] — — • • • • •
0624 vāv hamza ] — — • • • • •
06C7 Uzbek u ] — — •
06C9 Uzbek o ] — — •
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 7

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
Unicode Name isolated final medial initial Arabic Dari Pashto Uzbek Brahui
0647 he ] ]] ] • • • • •
0629 te-ye gerd ] — — • • • • •
06CC ye ] ]] ] • • • •
0649alef-e maqsura — — ]] ] •
06D2 Urdu ye ] — — •
064A saxta ye ] — — • • •
06D0 pasta ye ] ] ] • •
06CD ǝǰina ye ] — — •
0626 ye hamza ] ] ] • • • •
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 8

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
The Southern Uzbek Alphabet
The table below lists the letters used to write Southern Uzbek, including loanwords from
Arabic. This is a new official orthography the development of which was inspired by the
UNDP project. In the list below, the Unicode letters which sort as separate letters at the
first level are given flush to the left margin, and letters which sort at the second level are
indented. We have also given the Urdu letters which are used in older Pashto
orthographies to show how Pashto data in that orthography will sort.
Unicode Name isolated final medial initial Arabic Dari Pashto Uzbek Brahui
0622 alef-madha ] — — • • • •
0627 alef ] — — • • • • •
0623 alef-hamza ] — — • • • • •
0671 alif-wasla ] — — •
0625 al.-h.-below ] — — •
0621 hamza — — — • • • • •
0628 beh ] ]] ] • • • • •
067E peh ] ]] ] • • • •
062A teh ] ]] ] • • • • •
067C Pashto eh ] ]] ] •
0679 Urdu eh ] ]] ] •
062B seh ] ]] ] • • • • •
062C jeem ] ]] ] • • • • •
0681 Pashto ǰeh ] ]] ] •
0686 cheh ] ]] ] • • • •
0685 Pashto ceh ] ]] ] •
062D heh ] ]] ] • • • • •
062E kheh ] ]] ] • • • • •
062F dal ] — — • • • • •
0689 Pashto al ] — — •
0688 Urdu al ] — — •
0630 zal ] — — • • • • •
0631 reh ] — — • • • • •
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 9

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
Unicode Name isolated final medial initial Arabic Dari Pashto Uzbek Brahui
0693 Pashto eh ] — — •
0691 Urdu eh ] — — •
0632 zeh ] — — • • • • •
0698 zheh ] — — • • • •
0696 Pashto eh ] — — •
0633 sin ] ]] ] • • • • •
0634 shin ] ]] ] • • • • •
069A Pashto in ] ]] ] •
0635 swad ] ]] ] • • • • •
0636 zwad ] ]] ] • • • • •
0637 tuy ] ]] ] • • • • •
0638 zuy ] ]] ] • • • • •
0639 ’ain ] ]] ] • • • • •
063A ghain ] ]] ] • • • • •
0641 feh ] ]] ] • • • • •
0642 qaf ] ]] ] • • • • •
06A9 kaf ] ]] ] • • • •
0643 Arabic kaf ] ]] ] •
06AB Pashto gaf ] ]] ] •
06AF gaf ] ]] ] • • •
0644 lam ] ]] ] • • • • •
06B7 Brahui lham ] ]] ] •
0645 meem ] ]] ] • • • • •
0646 nuun ] ]] ] • • • • •
06BA nuun ghunna ] — — •
06BC Pashto uun ] ]] ] •
0648 waw ] — — • • • • •
0624 waw hamza ] — — • • • • •
06C7 u ] — — •
06C9 o’ ] — — •
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 10

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
Unicode Name isolated final medial initial Arabic Dari Pashto Uzbek Brahui
0647 heh ] ]] ] • • • • •
0629 teh marbuta ] — — • • • • •
06CC yih ] ]] ] • • • •
0649 alef maksura — — ]] ] •
06D2 Urdu yih ] — — •
064A yeeh ] — — • • •
06D0 yeh ] ] ] • •
06CD ǝǰina yih ] — — •
0626 yih hamza ] ] ] • • • •
Note. To avoid encoding ambiguities in Uzbek data, and its known implications in
security-related issues including possible Uzbek Internet domain names, we
recommend that the Uzbek letter u always be encoded as U+06C7 and never as a
sequence of waw and a damma. Where input data is explicitly known to be in Uzbek,
applications should automatically replace a waw followed by a damma in the input data
(for example, in keyboard input) with the U+06C7 character.
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 11

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
The Brahui Alphabet
The table below lists the letters used to write Brahui, including loanwords from Arabic.
Brahui is not widely written either in Pakistan, where most Brahui speakers live, or in
Afghanistan. An expert respondant informed us that in Pakistan, Brahui speakers use
Urdu orthography with the addition of one letter, lhām. If Brahui is written in
Afghanistan, it may prefer the Pashto letters such as e to the corresponding Urdu
e. We have no evidence of this, but have given the Brahui alphabet here in order to
ensure the support of its own unique letter.
In the list below, the Unicode letters which sort as separate letters at the first level are
given flush to the left margin, and letters which sort at the second level are indented. We
have also given the Urdu letters which are used in older Pashto orthographies to show
how Pashto data in that orthography will sort.
Unicode Name isolated final medial initial Arabic Dari Pashto Uzbek Brahui
0622 ā ] — — • • • • •
0627 alif ] — — • • • • •
0623 alif-hamza ] — — • • • • •
0671 alif-wasla ] — — •
0625 al.-h.-below ] — — •
0621 hamza — — — • • • • •
0628 be ] ]] ] • • • • •
067E pe ] ]] ] • • • •
062A te ] ]] ] • • • • •
067C e ] ]] ] •
0679 Urdu e ] ]] ] •
062B se ] ]] ] • • • • •
062C jim ] ]] ] • • • • •
0681 ǰe ] ]] ] •
0686 če ] ]] ] • • • •
0685 ce ] ]] ] •
062D he ] ]] ] • • • • •
062E xe ] ]] ] • • • • •
062F dāl ] — — • • • • •
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 12

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
Unicode Name isolated final medial initial Arabic Dari Pashto Uzbek Brahui
0689 āl ] — — •
0688 Urdu āl ] — — •
0630 zāl ] — — • • • • •
0631 re ] — — • • • • •
0693 e ] — — •
0691 Urdu e ] — — •
0632 ze ] — — • • • • •
0698 že ] — — • • • •
0696 e ] — — •
0633 sin ] ]] ] • • • • •
0634 šin ] ]] ] • • • • •
069A in ] ]] ] •
0635 swāt ] ]] ] • • • • •
0636 zād ] ]] ] • • • • •
0637 twe ] ]] ] • • • • •
0638 zwe ] ]] ] • • • • •
0639 ˁayn ] ]] ] • • • • •
063A ǧayn ] ]] ] • • • • •
0641 fe ] ]] ] • • • • •
0642 qāf ] ]] ] • • • • •
06A9 kāf ] ]] ] • • • •
0643 Arabic kāf ] ]] ] •
06AB Pashto gāf ] ]] ] •
06AF gāf ] ]] ] • • •
0644 lām ] ]] ] • • • • •
06B7 lhām ] ]] ] •
0645 mim ] ]] ] • • • • •
0646 nun ] ]] ] • • • • •
06BA nun ghunna ] — — •
06BC un ] ]] ] •
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 13

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
Unicode Name isolated final medial initial Arabic Dari Pashto Uzbek Brahui
0648 wāw ] — — • • • • •
0624 wāw hamza ] — — • • • • •
06C7 Uzbek u ] — — •
06C9 Uzbek o ] — — •
0647 he ] ]] ] • • • • •
0629 te marbuta ] — — • • • • •
06CC ye ] ]] ] • • • •
0649 alef maksura — — ]] ] •
06D2 Urdu ye ] — — •
064A saxta ye ] — — • • •
06D0 pasta ye ] ] ] • •
06CD ǝǰina ye ] — — •
0626 ye hamza ] ] ] • • • •
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 14

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
Glyph-shape Requirements for Afghanistan
The table below lists the glyphs not usually found in most Arabic fonts, which it is
essential to support in order to enable the people of Afghanistan to write and process
their languages.
Unicode Name isolated final medial initial Dari Pashto Uzbek Brahui
067E pe ] ]] ] • • • •
067C Pashto e ] ]] ] •
0679 Urdu e ] ]] ] •
0681 ǰe ] ]] ] •
0686 če ] ]] ] • • • •
0685 ce ] ]] ] •
0689 āl ] — — •
0688 Urdu āl ] — — •
0693 e ] — — •
0691 Urdu e ] — — •
0698 že ] — — • • • •
0696 e ] — — •
069A in ] ]] ] •
06A9 Persian kāf ] ]] ] • • • •
06AB Pashto gāf ] ]] ] •
06AF gāf ] ]] ] • • •
06B7 lhām ] ]] ] •
06BA nun ghunna ] — — •
06BC un ] ]] ] •
06C7 Uzbek u ] — — •
06C9 Uzbek o ] — — •
06CC ye ] ]] ] • • • •
06D2 Urdu ye ] — — •
06D0 pasta ye ] ] ] • •
06CD ǝǰina ye ] — — •
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 15

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
Almost all of the languages used in Afghanistan require the use of diacritical marks
which follow a base letter, to make pronunciation or grammar usage clear. These marks
are known by different names in the different languages of Afghanistan, but are listed
here with their Unicode character names. Font and application developers should
ensure that they support these marks in their products. The zwarakay at the bottom of
the list is used in some Pashto educational materials, and as a result of this survey is now
being proposed for addition to the Unicode Standard. Until such time as it has been
formally encoded, we recommend the Private Use Area code position U+E659 for the
zwarakay.
Unicode Name
064B fathatan e
064C dammatan g
064D kasratan f
064E fatha a
064F damma c
0650 kasra b
Unicode Name
0651 shadda h
0652 sukun d
0653 maddah above l
0654 hamza above k
0670 superscript alef j
(E659) zwarakay i
One additional character appears to be in wide use by local banks and accountants in
Afghanistan, namely the afghani sign, q. This character is also being proposed for
addition to the Unicode Standard. Until such time as it has been formally encoded, we
recommend the Private Use Area code position U+E0B4 for the afghani sign. It should be
noted that glyph variants for this character exist, for example r and p, but in our
discussions several experts indicated that the first one shown above is the most original
and may therefore be more appropriate. Research on the best glyph shape is still
ongoing. As of this writing, neither the Ministry of Finance nor Da Afghanistan Bank had
formally adopted this symbol for use, although it is in use in both the public and private
sectors.
It should also be mentioned that certain punctuation marks and control characters are
used in Afghan computing. We have listed all of these characters on the collectivelyequivalent
keyboard layouts. Font developers are expected to include all of these
additional characters in fonts which are intended to support Afghan languages.
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 16

Pashto keyboard layout for Afghanistan
by Michael Everson, Roozbeh Pournader, Said Marjan Zazai, & Mohammad Tamim Noori, 2003-07-05
+
)
(
»
«
×
` ^
٪
_ %
6
q
^ $
/
‘
!
÷
=
- _
٠ RL
M
٩ LR
M
٧ & ٨ •
8
٣ #
٢ @ 3
١ `
ZWJ ~
delete
=
-
0
9
7
5
4
2
1
`
Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
]
}
[
h
a
b
c
e
f
g
d
{
"
'
j
i
€ π ∫ ∑
R
T
Y
l
°
return
]
[
P
O
I
U
E
W
tab Q
*
\ |
؛
\
:
>
<
K
'
;
L
J
H
G
F
D
S
caps lock A
/
.
،
,
ZW
NJ
k
∏
;
?
shift
/
.
,
M
N
B
V
C
X
Z
shift
Guide to the key assignments, reading top-down and left-right
Unshifted:
ZWJ, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, zero, hyphen, equals
shift altgr
shift
zād, swāt, se, qāf, fe, ǧayn, ˁayn, he, xe, he, jim, če
šin, sin, ye, be, lām, alif, te, nun, mim, kāf, gāf, backslash
plain altgr
ǝǰina-ye, feˁli-ye, ze, re, zāl, dāl, e, vāv, e, slash
Shifted:
division, exclamation, thousands, decimals, afghanǝy, percent, multiplication, guillemet, guillemet, parenthesis, parenthesis, kashida, plus
Unshifted spacebar →
SPACE
sukun, dammatan, kasratan, fathatan, damma, kasra, fatha, shadda, ǰe, ce, square-bracket, square-bracket
in, pasta-ye, saxta-ye, pe, alef-hamza, ā, e, ūn, gǝda-te, colon, semicolon, asterisk
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 17
Shifted spacebar →
ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER
zwe, twe, že, hamza, ZWNJ, āl, wāw-hamza, comma, full-stop, question
Alt-Gr:
tilde, grave, at, number, dollar, percent, circumflex, ampersand, bullet, LRM, RLM, underscore, —
degree, maddah, euro, ornament-parenthesis, ornament-parenthesis, alif-below, zwarakay, alif-above, apostrophe, quote, curly-bracket, curly-bracket
Alt-Gr spacebar →
NO-BREAK SPACE
—, urdu-ye, alif-maksura, nun-ghunna, brahui-lhām, alif-wasla, urdu-e, less-than, greater-than, arabic-kāf, persian-gāf, vertical-bar
question, semicolon, hamza-below, hamza-above, alif-hamza-below, urdu-āl, urdu-e, comma, uzbek-u, uzbek-o

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
Keyboard layouts for Afghanistan
Key assignments for Pashto, using ISO/IEC 9995 notation:
Unshifted Shifted AltGr
TLDE 200D 00F7 007E
E01 06F1 0021 0060
E02 06F2 066C 0040
E03 06F3 066B 0023
E04 06F4 AFGHANI 0024
E05 06F5 066A 0025
E06 06F6 00D7 005E
E07 06F7 00BB 0026
E08 06F8 00AB 2022
E09 06F9 0029 200E
E10 06F0 0028 200F
E11 002D 0640 005F
E12 003D 002B
D01 0636 0652 00B0
D02 0635 064C 0653
D03 062B 064D 20AC
D04 0642 064B FD3E
D05 0641 064F FD3F
D06 063A 0650 0656
D07 0639 064E ZWARAKAY
D08 0647 0651 0670
D09 062E 0681 0027
D10 062D 0685 0022
D11 062C 005D 007D
D12 0686 005B 007B
C01 0634 069A
C02 0633 0626 06D2
C03 06CC 064A 0649
C04 0628 067E 06BA
C05 0644 0623 06B7
C06 0627 0622 0671
C07 062A 067C 0679
C08 0646 06BC 003E
C09 0645 0629 003C
C10 06A9 003A 0643
C11 06AB 061B 06AF
B01 06CD 0638 003F
B02 06D0 0637 003B
B03 0632 0698 0655
B04 0631 0621 0654
B05 0630 200C 0625
B06 062F 0689 0688
B07 0693 0624 0691
B08 0648 060C 002C
B09 0696 002E 06C7
B10 002F 061F 06C9
BKSL 005C 002A 007C
SPCE 0020 200C 00A0
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 18

Dari keyboard layout for Afghanistan
by Michael Everson & Roozbeh Pournader, 2003-07-05
+
- _
)
(
، *
٧ & ٨ •
8
×
` ^
٪
_ %
6
q
^ $
/
‘
!
÷
=
٠ RL
M
٩ LR
M
٣ #
٢ @ 3
١ `
ZWJ ~
delete
=
-
0
9
7
5
4
2
1
`
Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
}
{
]
[
h
a
b
c
e
f
g
d
"
'
∏
i
€ π ∫ ∑
R
T
Y
°
return
]
[
P
O
I
U
E
W
tab Q
|
\ ?
؛
\
:
;
»
«
K
S
'
;
L
J
H
G
F
D
caps lock A
/
>
.
<
k
j
l
,
,
ZW
NJ
shift
/
.
M
N
B
V
C
X
Z
shift
Guide to the key assignments, reading top-down and left-right
Unshifted:
ZWJ, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, zero, hyphen, equals
shift altgr
shift
zād, sād, se, qāf, fe, qayn, ayn, he, xe, he, jim, če
šin, sin, ye, be, lām, alef, te, nūn, mīm, kāf, gāf, backslash
zā, tā, ze, re, zāl, dāl, pe, vāv, full-stop, slash
plain altgr
Shifted:
division, exclamation, thousands, decimals, afghani, percent, multiplication, comma, asterisk, parenthesis, parenthesis, kashida, plus
sukun, dammatan, kasratan, fathatan, damma, kasra, fatha, shadda, square-bracket, square-bracket, curly-bracket, curly-bracket
vāv-hamza, ye-hamza, saxta-ye, alef-hamza-below, alef-hamza, ā, te-ye-gerd, guillemet, guillemet, colon, semicolon, vertical-bar
Unshifted spacebar →
SPACE
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 19
Shifted spacebar →
arabic-kāf, maddah, že, alef-above, ZWNJ, hamza-above, hamza, less-than, greater-than, question
ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER
Alt-Gr:
tilde, grave, at, number, dollar, percent, circumflex, ampersand, bullet, LRM, RLM, underscore, —
degree, —, euro, ornament-parenthesis, ornament-parenthesis, alef-below, zwarakay, hamza-below, apostrophe, quote, pashto-ǰe, pashto-ce
pashto-in, ǝǰina-ye, alef-e-maqsura, pasta-ye, brahui-lhām, alef-wasla, pashto-e, pashto-ūn, nūn-ghunna, semicolon, pashto-gāf, question
urdu-ye, urdu-e, pashto-e, pashto-e, urdu-āl, pashto-āl, urdu-e, comma, uzbek-u, uzbek-o
Alt-Gr spacebar →
NO-BREAK SPACE

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
Keyboard layouts for Afghanistan
Key assignments for Dari, using ISO/IEC 9995 notation:
Unshifted Shifted AltGr
TLDE 200D 00F7 007E
E01 06F1 0021 0060
E02 06F2 066C 0040
E03 06F3 066B 0023
E04 06F4 AFGHANI 0024
E05 06F5 066A 0025
E06 06F6 00D7 005E
E07 06F7 060C 0026
E08 06F8 002A 2022
E09 06F9 0029 200E
E10 06F0 0028 200F
E11 002D 0640 005F
E12 003D 002B
D01 0636 0652 00B0
D02 0635 064C
D03 062B 064D 20AC
D04 0642 064B FD3E
D05 0641 064F FD3F
D06 063A 0650 0656
D07 0639 064E ZWARAKAY
D08 0647 0651 0655
D09 062E 005D 0027
D10 062D 005B 0022
D11 062C 007D 0681
D12 0686 007B 0685
C01 0634 0624 069A
C02 0633 0626 06CD
C03 06CC 064A 0649
C04 0628 0625 06D0
C05 0644 0623 06B7
C06 0627 0622 0671
C07 062A 0629 067C
C08 0646 00BB 06BC
C09 0645 00AB 06BA
C10 06A9 003A 003B
C11 06AF 061B 06AB
B01 0638 0643 06D2
B02 0637 0653 0691
B03 0632 0698 0696
B04 0631 0670 0693
B05 0630 200C 0688
B06 062F 0654 0689
B07 067E 0621 0679
B08 0648 003E 002C
B09 002E 003C 06C7
B10 002F 061F 06C9
BKSL 005C 007C 003F
SPCE 0020 200C 00A0
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 20

Southern Uzbek keyboard layout for Afghanistan
by Michael Everson & Roozbeh Pournader, 2003-07-07
+
- _
)
(
، *
٧ & ٨ •
8
×
` ^
٪
_ %
6
q
^ $
/
‘
!
÷
=
٠ RL
M
٩ LR
M
٣ #
٢ @ 3
١ `
ZWJ ~
delete
=
-
0
9
7
5
4
2
1
`
Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
}
{
]
[
h
a
b
c
e
f
g
d
"
'
j
i
€ π ∫ ∑
R
T
Y
l
°
return
]
[
P
O
I
U
E
W
tab Q
|
\ ?
؛
\
:
;
»
«
K
S
'
;
L
J
H
G
F
D
caps lock A
/ ∏
>
.
<
k
ZW
NJ
,
,
shift
/
.
M
N
B
V
C
X
Z
shift
Guide to the key assignments, reading top-down and left-right
Unshifted:
ZWJ, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, zero, hyphen, equals
zwad, swad, seh, qaf, feh, ghain, ’ain, heh, kheh, heh, jeem, cheh
shin, sin, yih, beh, lam, alef, teh, nuun, meem, kaf, gaf, backslash
zuy, tuy, zeh, reh, zal, dal, peh, waw, full-stop, slash
shift altgr
shift
plain altgr
Shifted:
division, exclamation, thousands, decimals, afghani, percent, multiplication, comma, asterisk, parenthesis, parenthesis, kashida, plus
sukun, dammatan, kasratan, fathatan, damma, kasra, fatha, shadda, square-bracket, square-bracket, curly-bracket, curly-bracket
waw-hamza, yih-hamza, yeeh, yeh, alef-hamza, alef-madha, teh marbuta, guillemet, guillemet, colon, semicolon, vertical-bar
o’, u, zheh, alef-hamza-below, ZWNJ, hamza-above, hamza, less-than, greater-than, question
Unshifted spacebar →
SPACE
Alt-Gr:
tilde, grave, at, number, dollar, percent, circumflex, ampersand, bullet, LRM, RLM, underscore, —
degree, maddah, euro, ornament-parenthesis, ornament-parenthesis, alef-below, zwarakay, alef-above, apostrophe, quote, pashto-ǰeh, pashto-ceh
pashto-in, ǝǰina-yih, alef-e-maqsura, arabic-kaf, brahui-lham, alef-wasla, pashto-eh, pashto-uun, nuun-ghunna, semicolon, pashto-gaf, question
urdu-yih, urdu-eh, pashto-eh, pashto-eh, urdu-al, pashto-al, urdu-eh, comma, —, hamza-below
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 21
Shifted spacebar →
ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER
Alt-Gr spacebar →
NO-BREAK SPACE

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
Keyboard layouts for Afghanistan
Key assignments for Southern Uzbek, using ISO/IEC 9995 notation:
Unshifted Shifted AltGr
TLDE 200D 00F7 007E
E01 06F1 0021 0060
E02 06F2 066C 0040
E03 06F3 066B 0023
E04 06F4 AFGHANI 0024
E05 06F5 066A 0025
E06 06F6 00D7 005E
E07 06F7 060C 0026
E08 06F8 002A 2022
E09 06F9 0029 200E
E10 06F0 0028 200F
E11 002D 0640 005F
E12 003D 002B
D01 0636 0652 00B0
D02 0635 064C 0653
D03 062B 064D 20AC
D04 0642 064B FD3E
D05 0641 064F FD3F
D06 063A 0650 0656
D07 0639 064E ZWARAKAY
D08 0647 0651 0670
D09 062E 005D 0027
D10 062D 005B 0022
D11 062C 007D 0681
D12 0686 007B 0685
C01 0634 0624 069A
C02 0633 0626 06CD
C03 06CC 064A 0649
C04 0628 06D0 0643
C05 0644 0623 06B7
C06 0627 0622 0671
C07 062A 0629 067C
C08 0646 00BB 06BC
C09 0645 00AB 06BA
C10 06A9 003A 003B
C11 06AF 061B 06AB
B01 0638 06C9 06D2
B02 0637 06C7 0691
B03 0632 0698 0696
B04 0631 0625 0693
B05 0630 200C 0688
B06 062F 0654 0689
B07 067E 0621 0679
B08 0648 003E 002C
B09 002E 003C
B10 002F 061F 0655
BKSL 005C 007C 003F
SPCE 0020 200C 00A0
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 22

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
The official calendar of Afghanistan
The official calendar of Afghanistan is the solar Islamic calendar (also known as the
Persian calendar or the hejrī-e sˇamsī calendar). This calendar counts up from the year of
the Hegira of Muhammad. The Gregorian calendar is used in international activities or
occasions, and the Lunar Islamic calendar (also known as hejrī-e qamarī ) is used for
religious ceremonies and some of the holidays.
The Persian calendar of Afghanistan, although very similiar to the Persian calendar of
Iran, differs in the algorithm it uses to calculate leap years, which may lead to a one-day
difference for some years. There are plans to synchronize these calendars, but the
present report only describes the current calendar of Afghanistan. The Persian calendar
has 12 months, consisting of 29 to 31 days. The names of the months in Dari and Pashto,
together with the number of the days in each month, is given below. Other languages of
Afghanistan usually use the Dari names of the months.
Dari Pashto Days
Hamal Wray 31
Sawr Ǧwayay 31
Jawzā Ǧbargolay 31
Saratān Čungā 31
Asad Zmaray 31
Sonbola Waay 31
Mīzān Tǝla 30
Aqrab Laam 30
Qaws Lindǝy 30
Jady Marǧūmay 30
Dalv Salwāǧǝ 30
Hūt Kab 29 (30 in leap years)
Iranian leap years are computed astronomically, but the Afghan leap years have an
arithmetic formula. The formula is for synchronizing with the Gregorian calendar, and is
rather simple in that regard: the Persian year x is a leap year if and only if the Gregorian
year x + 621 is a leap year. For example, the Persian year 1383 will be a leap year in the
Afghan Persian calendar, since the Gregorian year 2004 will be a leap year. For the sake
of conversion between Gregorian dates and Persian years, one can use the following
date for a reference point: 1 Hamal 1382 = 21 March 2003.
The Lunar Islamic calendar used in Afghanistan is a civil Lunar Islamic calendar, based
on pre-computation of the months. The number of the days of the months are 29 and 30
days alternatively. Leap years occur every two or three years, and make the month
Dhu l-Qa’da a day longer. The exact algorithm used for leap years is reported to be
complicated and was not made available to us. It is worth mentioning that because of
the importance of Islamic months Ramadan and Shawwal in Muslim fasting and other
ceremonies, the starting day of these two months is as observed by religious or
governmental authorities rather than pre-computed. There have been (and will be)
frequent cases of one day difference between the pre-computed calendar and the
observed one. This difference is usually adjusted at the end of Shawwal, and the precomputed
calendar is used from the next month.
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 23

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan
Acknowledgements
This report could not have been produced without the kind and expert assistance of a great many people.
Our heartfelt thanks are especially given to Habibullah Rafi and to Said Marjan Zazai, who shared their
expertise with great kindness and patience. We apologize to any person whose name we have inadvertantly
omitted here. – ME & RP
Muhammad Afzal, University of Arid Agriculture,
Rawalpindi
Nurollah Altay, Institute of Uzbek and Turkmen
Languages and Literature, Kabul
Muhammad Assam, Ministry of Communications,
Kabul
Christian Cooke, fishamble.net, Dublin
Noorullah Delawari, Ministry of Finance, Kabul
Rahim Ebrahim, Institute of Uzbek and Turkmen
Languages and Literature, Kabul
Abbas Edalat, Science and Arts Foundation,
London
Joseph Elfenbein, Ancient India and Iran Trust,
Cambridge
Behdad Esfahbod, FarsiWeb Project, Tehran
Asmus Freytag, Asmus, Inc., Seattle
Roman Gehring, SIL International
Jost Gippert, TITUS project, Frankfurt
Bob Hallissy, SIL International, Horsleys Green,
England
Javid Hamdard, Ministry of Finance, Kabul
Horia Samira Hamidi, UNDP Afghanistan, Kabul
Fazl Ahmad Hedayat, Head Office of Geodesy and
Cartography, Kabul
Sarmad Hussain, Foundation for Advancement of
Science and Technology, Lahore
Shirzad Kamawal, shirzad.de, Berlin
Jonathan Kew, SIL International, Horsleys Green,
England
Raj Wali Shah Khattak, Pushto Academy,
University of Peshawar
Ghutay Khawre, Afghanistan Academy of Sciences,
Kabul
Alireza Kheirkhahan, FarsiWeb Project, Tehran
Mohammad Alem Kuhkan, Radio Liberty, Kabul
Sayyed Mohammad Alem Labib, Institute of
Uzbek and Turkmen Languages and Literature,
Kabul
Marc Lepage, UNDP Afghanistan, Kabul
Abdur Rauf Mahsood, Khpala Pashto, Peshawar
Nasrollah Shubman Mangol, Afghanistan
Academy of Sciences, Kabul
Muhammad Aimal Marjan, Ministry of
Communications, Kabul
Ron Meyer-Hagen, SIL International
Yari Ata Mohammad, UNDP Afghanistan, Kabul
Ercan Murat, UNDP Afghanistan, Kabul
Mohammad Tamim Noori, Afghanistan Assistance
Coordination Authority, Kabul
Mohammad Amin Oriya, UNDP Afghanistan, Kabul
Knut Ostby, UNDP Afghanistan, Kabul
Ah. Farhad Popal, Ministry of Finance, Kabul
Habibullah Rafi, Kelid Magazine, Kabul
Elnaz Sarbar, FarsiWeb Project, Tehran
James Seng, Infocomm Development Authority,
Singapore
Mohammad Sepehry Rad, High Council of Informatics
of Iran, Tehran
Nazar Ahmad Shah, UNDP Afghanistan, Kabul
Mr Shams, Department of Linguistics, University of
Kabul
Nicholas Sims-Williams, School of Oriental and
African Studies, London
Masoum Stanekzai, Ministry of Communications,
Kabul
Yahya Tabesh, Sharif University of Technology,
Tehran
Massoumeh Torfeh, Afghanistan Assistance
Coordination Authority, Kabul
Mohammad Ya’ghub Vahedi, Institute of Uzbek
and Turkmen Languages and Literature, Kabul
Haron Wardak, hewad.com, Göteborg
Ken Whistler, Sybase, Dublin, California
Cathy Wissink, Microsoft, Redmond
Ismail Yoon, University of Kabul
Ghulam Rasoul Yosoufzai, Ministry of Information
and Culture, Kabul
Mahmood Zahir, UNDP Afghanistan, Kabul
Abdul Zahir Gulistani, Ministry of Education,
Kabul
Said Marjan Zazai, Afghanistan Assistance
Coordination Authority, Kabul
We are also grateful to the staff of the following
organizations:
Afghanistan Academy of Sciences, Kabul
Afghan National Bank, Kabul
Centre for Dari Langauge and Literature, University
of Kabul
Da Afghanistan Bank, Kabul
Department of Literature and Linguistics,
University of Kabul
Department of Turkmen and Uzbek Language and
Literature, School of Literature and Human
Sciences, Balkh University
Institute of Uzbek and Turkmen Languages & Literature,
Afghanistan Academy of Sciences, Kabul
Ministry of Communication, Kabul
Ministry of Education, Kabul
Ministry of Finance, Kabul
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kabul
Ministry of Information and Culture, Kabul
Office for Public Libraries, Kabul
UNDP Afghanistan, Kabul
©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 24